No Name Saloon - Bar Rescue Update - Open or Closed?

In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits No Name Saloon in Edgewater, Florida.

No Name Saloon is owned by Jim Kelly, a businessman and former restaurant owner.

He bought the biker bar in 2012.

He has future prospects for the bar and is intending for his daughter Susan to run the bar one day.

The bar has been popular and when they hosted Oktoberfest it brought in 10,000’s of people.

The place had been closed 3 years before Jim took over.

The loyal customers came back with Jim pocketing almost $20,000 in profit monthly.

They have had health scares but Hurricane Matthew set them back by a lot.

Their home was destroyed so they live in their former office above the bar.

They have had a hard time completing renovations and old, aggressive customers are driving away new customers.

They are losing $7000 a month and are in $800,000 debt.

Jon recons the bar with expert bartender Lisamarie Joyce and expert chef Ryan Scott.

They observe the bar and it is a large property with outdoor and indoor spaces.

It is compared to a rundown biker coachella.

Inside the bar there is a lot of dust, vandalism and clutter.

The bar is too embedded in its biker identity that non-biker patrons wouldn’t feel comfortable visiting.

They see Jim and his wife Melonnie and Jon fills them in on their financial situation.

There is tension between Susan and Jim because he doesn’t want to hand the bar over, even though she thinks she is ready.

They note the bartenders and servers are all wearing corsets which Lisamarie says is very uncomfortable to work in as bartenders need to move.

Jessica and Brandy are bartenders and Kevin is a Barback.

Jon has a bar magazine editor Art and his friend Alexa enter the bar to test the service.

They ask for a drink menu but they don’t have any and are recommended a strange cocktail, which is too sweet.

They are also recommended the philly cheesesteak sandwich, which they order along with a chicken sandwich.

Bob is the cook and is using several dirty grey towels while cooking.

He also cooks the meat poorly.

Jim catches some patrons having sex in his bathroom and kicks them out.

In the kitchen, the chicken sandwich is not a good portion size and is so huge that Jon’s team is shocked.

The chicken is so tough Art can’t cut it on his own and sends it back.

The cheesesteak is also returned because it is dripping with grease, so it is also sent back.

Jim hears their complaint and grants them a refund but doesn’t apologise for the issues.

Art and Alexa order a desert shot and the bar pours a shot from a curdled bottle.

Jon and his team go in and pull Jim and his family aside to talk to them on all they noticed.

The kitchen is dirty and Ryan opens up greasy panels, showing them the dirty towels.

Jon asks them to clean up the bar then talks to Jim and Melonnie alone.

Jim tells them of their living situation and how him and his wife are both cancer survivors.

The next day Jon sits with the staff to find out why the bar is failing.

They say the drinking behind the bar contributes to the problems at the bar.

Jim says he shut it down but when confronted he admits he just looks the other way.

Jon points out his looking the other way has led to the inconsistency in service.

Customers are disrespecting the space by having sex in the bathroom and drawing lewd images in the public spaces.

Jon introduces his experts and his plan to help them get their costs under control.

Ryan sees the kitchen has been cleaned but goes into their walk-in.

He discovers they have food stocked to last them months and this is where all their money has been going to.

Ryan takes the staff through making a better tasting philly cheesesteak with chicken and with the oil drained out.

Lisamarie takes the staff through making a balanced cocktail.

She also teaches them consistency in drink recipes using a margarita as an example.

She also announces to the female members of staff that they won’t be wearing a corset for the stress test.

She tells them that there are other ways to be sexy behind the bar.

Jon has Susan manage the staff and customers and Jim is in the kitchen helping Bob.

The stress test starts off slowly.

The bartenders are not properly distributed along the bar and they are looking bored and tired.

The food is not properly ticketed and they have problems finding the customers.

Susan is tanking as she is only bartending and not managing the bar and Bob is overwhelmed in the kitchen.

The bar is getting off track and dirty tools are piling up as there is no barback.

They have no workstation and only one POS system.

Susan is washing glasses while the barback is missing so she goes to find him.

They can’t catch up so Jon shuts the bar down.

Jon meets with staff and Susan is told she can grow into the role and her parents need to trust her with more.

Susan and Jim talk and they agree to a timeline of a year to put her through and consider a handover.

Jon meets with Jim and Melonnie the next day and tells them that it is hard sacking poor performing staff when they are family.

He is happy they are committed to training her for a year.

Lisamarie takes the staff through making cocktails that are female friendly.

Jon’s team work on the bar for over 24 hours.

They only work on the inside as the name and the exterior look is synonymous with the community.

Inside the bar has been made to look warmer and more upscale.

A separate signature wall has been created with markers available to discourage vandalism elsewhere.

They now have tables with adjustable legs so people can play darts.

Logos Promote created the mural on the signature wall.

There is a lifetime subscription to Partender for inventory.

There are new uniforms, new POS systems, ice bins and workstations.

The staff are the first to sign the wall.

They open for relaunch and the patrons love the new No Name Saloon.

The bartenders are smiling while making drinks and entertaining customers, working 3 times faster.

The kitchen is also doing well delivering on the tickets.

Susan is doing a lot better managing the floor and asking for her father’s support.

What Happened Next at Phish Heads?

Six weeks later it is revealed, food and beverage sales are up 30%.

Susan has taken over bookkeeping and is on track to own the bar in a year.

Jim and Melonnie have started plans to rebuild their home.

No Name Saloon is open.

Reviews are mostly positive with compliments to the bartenders and atmosphere.

A wrongful death suit was filed that included the producers of Bar Rescue after the failed to improve security at the bar.

Travis Jones was sadly shot dead at the bar on 19th August 2017.

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Previous episode - Barley Pop's Bar & Grill

Next episode - Phish Heads / Phish Tales

This post was last updated in March 2022.